Annie Hopper, MSW, LCSW

Annie has worked for the University of Alaska, Fairbanks since 2006 when she helped develop Behavioral Health career classes for rural and urban high schools. This path lead her to the Tech Prep programs, developing health career pathways for distance education for rural high schools. The place where she is most at home is the Rural Human Services program where she worked as the Statewide Director for three years, and then returned to this position in August of 2012. With an emphasis on rural students, this 22 year old program is a gateway for students entering the behavioral health field. The mission of RHS is to “grow your own” and put a counselor in every village! Elders are an intergal part of the program. RHS has three campuses in Fairbanks, Anchorage and Bethel.

Diane McEachern

Alaska is the seventh state I have lived in and I love it here. I have lived in rural Alaska for the past 9 years.

I was the lead social worker for Lower Kuskokwim School District in Bethel and I itinerated to over 20 villages. I highly recommend it! It is a natural progression to find myself teaching within adult cohort models (RHS, HUMS, SWK) given my experience working in rural communities as a social worker.